


The Son of a Magician

by Waya_Rainwater_1



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam is a dad!, M/M, Mrs. parrish needs help and Adam helps her, Noah is Shado's ghost friend, Shado doesn't like his old name, Shado has a crush on someone at school, ronan is happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-19 12:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13704492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waya_Rainwater_1/pseuds/Waya_Rainwater_1
Summary: Adam finds out he has a son, Shado. Shado has black hair with one grey stripe going through the middle, Shado starts hearing a voice in his room late at night, one night he finds out that this voice belongs to a teenage ghost boy that goes by the name Noah. they become best friends and soon Shado finds out that his new family is hiding a supernatural secret.





	1. Chapter 1

It was dark outside, it usually was when he got off work from Boyd’s auto shop. Adam was driving home but first he picked up some pizza for him and Ronan to eat for dinner. He looked up and saw that a traffic light had turned red, he stopped. Adam was lost deep in his thoughts, most of them were about work, others were about Ronan. Adam was thinking about how much he loved Ronan, he also thought about wanting to adopt a kid to call their own. An image popped into his head, it was of him and Ronan. In the image Ronan was laying on the couch while Adam was snuggling with him as Ronan held him close with his left arm while occupied in his other was a baby all bundled up with a cute little grin on its adorable face. Another image popped into his mind, in the image Adam was holding the baby close to his chest while Ronan fended off Blue who was struggling to get to the baby. Adam smiled at these thoughts. The light turned green a minute later and he drove straight home to Ronan. 

Once he got there Ronan was sitting in a chair in the kitchen with his head on the table and his eyes closed along with his arms crossed resting under his head as well. Adam smiled at this an set the pizza down on the counter. He walked over to Ronan, stood behind him and started to give him a massage on his shoulders and upper back. He moaned as he started to wake up. 

“Hey sleepy head, how was your day?” Adam asked his boyfriend. 

“Tiring, stressful, and painful” answered the tired Ronan. 

“Why painful?” Adam wondered aloud. 

“I stubbed my fucking toe on the chair, I tripped over a damn bucket backwards into cow shit, and the fucking goat kicked me in the ass whenever I bent over to pick up a hay bale” Ronan complained. Adam imagined Ronan tripping over a bucket backwards into cow dung, he giggled at the thought in his mind and kept massaging Ronan’s shoulders and back. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through that today but it’s going to get better, you know why?” Adam asked him. 

“Because you’re here to make sure I don’t hurt myself again?” Ronan told him with a hint of flirting but that was allowed because who wouldn’t flirt with their own boyfriend?

“That and because I brought home pizza and breadsticks along with cheese sauce, and Dr. Pepper” Adam informed him with a smile as he leaned down to kiss Ronan on the cheek. Ronan turned around and smiled at him then kissed Adam on the lips. 

“Best boyfriend ever” he said then got up to get some pizza. After they ate and watched movie, the two boys went to bed. The next day Adam would have the day off from work so he could sleep in as long as he wanted. He woke up a few hours later and looked at the clock, 3:47 in the morning. He groaned and got up anyway then made his way downstairs to the kitchen. A minute later there was a loud knock on the door followed by a thump. Adam walked to the door and opened it, there was a boy about twelve years old with black hair and one grey stripe in it laying with bruises on the porch. One of Adam’s ex girlfriends were standing over the boy with her new boyfriend. 

“Adam, take him, we don’t want him anymore. He’s being too much of a wuss like you were.” Sydney snapped at him. He pushed them out of the way and looked the boy over. He had so many bruises that Adam thought that the boy was him for a minute.

“Sydney why did you do this, he just a child! I even told you when we went out in high school that I hated violence and you completely ignored that, I told you what my father did to me and you deliberately did the same thing he did! What gives you the right to treat him this way!” Adam shouted in outrage, then Sydney’s boyfriend punched him square in the jaw sending Adam falling to the floor.

Adam got up and tried to hold himself back but couldn’t, he punched the burly, tall man in the eye then went over to the boy and carried him inside and his ex girlfriend shouted after him, “Your his father anyway, I never even wanted kids but after you left I found out I was pregnant with the brat! You should be thankful that we brought him here!”. 

He was so angry that after he set the boy on the couch he reopened the door and shouted into their faces in outrage, “Thankful?! I have half a mind to send you back to hell! Now get off our property, I don’t want to see your fucking idiotic damn faces again!” then slammed the door after he went back inside. 

“Adam? What’s going on?” Ronan asked him with a confused look on his face as he stood in awe of his boyfriends tantrum. Suddenly the boy on the couch started to move, Adam made a beeline for him. As Adam stood over the boy, checking his wounds Ronan rushed over with an emergency kit. Adam thought back to what Sydney said about the boy being his son. He thought it made sense. He broke up with sydney about twelve years ago so it would make sense for the boy to be about twelve years old. Adam planned to ask the small child what his name was when he woke up but right now the only thing that mattered was taking care of him and making sure he was okay. The boy was out for a few minutes but then began to wake up. He seemed startled and kind of panicked. Adam sat at his side and checked the boy’s bruises, he didn’t feel any broken bones, and there wasn’t much blood but Adam was still concerned. He pulled the boy close to his chest and silently let the tears flow as he held the boy, _his_ _son._

“Hey dude, glad you’re finally up. How do you feel?” Ronan asked the boy and handed him a glass of water. The boy was hesitant when Adam finally let go. 

“F-fine” the boy said but Adam already knew that was a lie. 

“Now I know that’s a lie” Ronan told him, Adam glared at him as if he were telling him to stop right there. 

“W-what I mean is that we know you don’t feel fine and you don’t have to be but we want you to tell us what you’re feeling. Your dad here went through the same thing when he was a kid, he never wanted that for his kids” Ronan informed him calmly. The boy looked to Adam with wide eyes.

“Look, you mom found out that she was pregnant with you after I broke up with her. I didn’t know she had a kid as cool as you and what she and her… idiot of a boyfriend, husband, whatever,  did to you was wrong. We will never do anything to hurt you, okay?” Adam told the boy. The boy nodded. 

“Good, now since Sydney didn’t tell me your name would you consider telling me?” he asked. 

“Skunk” the boy said, which left Adam confused. 

“My name is Skunk, mostly because of my hair” he told them. Adam hummed thoughtfully for a second. 

“Let me ask you a question, do you like that name?” he asked Skunk. Skunk shook his head and hung it like a wilting flower. 

“How would you like to have a different name? One that you like, one that won’t get teased.”  Ronan said. Skunks eyes lit up with happiness and he nodded. 

“Alright, but Ronan is definitely not naming you, he’s terrible at naming things” Adam teased which earned a glare and a complaint from Ronan. Adam smiled at him then turned back to Skunk. 

“C-can you name me then?” Skunk asked. Adam smiled softly at the boy and thought about it for a minute. He’s always liked the names Archer and Shado. 

“How about Shado?” Adam asked him. Skunk thought about it for a minute and smiled then nodded. 

“Yeah, I like that name” the former Skunk said. 

“Let’s get you something to eat okay? Then we can do whatever you want to do, how does that sound?” Adam offered and the twelve year old smiled even brighter. Adam looked into Shado’s eyes and noticed that they were the same color as his, sky blue. Shado’s hair looked like it had gone through a lawn mower and had shears used as scissor to cut it. 

“Hey Shado, would you like a hair cut sometime? I just think that whoever cut your hair or whoever tried to cut your hair isn’t a professional” Adam suggested while looking at the boy’s hair. Shadow smiled and bit his lip as if trying to hide a laugh.

“What?” Adam asked curiously, wondering what was so funny. 

“Nothing, I was just wondering if you were asking me that question or yourself, seeing as your hair is really shaggy and long” Shado retorted with a smirk. Ronan snickered at that from behind him. 

“Believe me I’ve been telling him to get a haircut for a while now but he just won’t budge” Ronan scoffed with a hint of teasing him. Adam sent a glare his way and turned back to Shado. Shado  was smiling but then it melted into a frown. Sensing something was wrong Adam wrapped an arm around his son and gave him a reassuring hug. 

“It’s okay, you’re safe now and we are never going to let anything happen to you” Adam said softly. Shado nodded but didn’t smile. 

“Yeah I know but it’s just…” he trailed off. 

“Just what?” Ronan asked with concern. 

“C-can I still… go to school and see my friends? You know like… stay there to learn and stuff?” Shado asked seeming kind of nervous. 

“Of course buddy, whatever you want to do but I only ask one thing” Adam told him. 

“What’s that?”

“Don’t try to cut school. The only times we’ll let you cut school is if something happens, alright?” 

“Alright” 

“Okay, now let’s eat some pizza!” Ronan cheered racing to the kitchen.

“Save some for Shado Ronan!” Adam scolded his boyfriend as he rushed to get some pizza for his son. 


	2. Shado's pov.

Skunk didn’t know what to do, he’d always been in trouble with his mom and step dad but he’d never been in this much trouble. Skunk had black hair with one light grey stripe going through it, he was wearing a black skull t-shirt with a black jacket over it and black jeans that had gotten ripped at the knees. He also had on black sneakers with one white stripe on them. Skunk was a pale kid, he kept quiet all the time even though he wanted to scream and shout. He had a few friends at school but not many, Skunk even had a crush on the most popular kid at school. His crush was a boy but he’d never admit that out loud, his step dad hates homos. Skunk knew he had a biological dad somewhere but he didn’t want to see him, Skunk thought that if his dad had dated his mom then he was nothing but bad news. 

“Boy! Look at me when I’m talking to you!” his step dad yelled in rage as his fist connected with Skunks face. Skunk was on the verge of tears as his step father threw punch after punch, kick after kick. 

"Get up, little wuss! say that again to my face and see what happens!" Butch shouted. his mother Sydney was watching with an irritated look on her face and crossed arms. 

"I said you're not my real father!" Skunk said softly and began crying. Butch punched him in the face again until Sydney pulled him away for a minute. 

"your father was nothing but a weak little jerk who left me with you! His parents tried to make him tough like we're doing but all you do is throw it back in our faces and I'm tired of it you little brat! Butch is tired of it too!" Sydney yelled and pulled him out the door by his hair. Skunk tried not to cry, he really did but it was too painful and the tears flowed down his cheeks. Butch was hot on their heels as they exited the trailer. Sydney opened the door to their car and threw him in the back seat. 

"w-where are we going?" he asked his enraged mother as she got in the drivers side and turned the car on. 

"I'm taking you to live with your real father" she said through clenched teeth. Butch got in the passenger seat beside her and they stayed silent the entire way there. Truth be told Skunk was scared to meet his dad, he'd heard stories of him for sure but he never actually met him. Butch turned around in the seat and looked at the boy then whacked him over the head with something and Skunk blacked out. 

When Skunk came to a blurry figure stood over him and he felt a wash cloth on his skin where a bruise was forming, compliments of Butch. 

"hey dude, glad you're finally up. How do you feel?" a dangerous man with a buzz cut said as a kind looking man with shaggy blonde hair sat beside him and cleaning up the blood from the bruise. 

"F-fine" he stuttered, not knowing which one was his father, not knowing if he should trust them. 

"Now I know that's a lie" buzz cut guy said. the shaggy haired guy glared at buzz cut.

"W-what I mean is that we know you don't feel fine and you don’t have to be but we want you to tell us what you’re feeling. Your dad here went through the same thing when he was a kid, he never wanted that for his kids” buzz cut told him. So the shaggy haired guy was his father, the color of his eyes were the same color blue that his eyes were and he guessed that the streak of grey in his hair was hind of the same color as his dad's blonde hair. He had a few freckles but his dad had a lot, and by a lot he didn't just mean on his face, his dad had a bunch on his arms too. Skunk couldn't believe that he'd been so wrong about his dad that he felt a little guilty that he'd thought he was going to be some kind of bad guy. 

"Look, you mom found out that she was pregnant with you after I broke up with her. I didn’t know she had a kid as cool as you and what she and her… idiot of a boyfriend, husband, whatever,  did to you was wrong. We will never do anything to hurt you, okay?” his dad said to him kindly. Skunk nodded in understanding. 

“Good, now since Sydney didn’t tell me your name would you consider telling me?” his father asked him. 

"Skunk" he told him. his dad looked confused so Skunk decided to elaborate. "My name is Skunk, mostly because of my hair" his father hummed thoughtfully for a minute then spoke. 

"Let me ask you a question, do you like that name?" his dad asked him. Skunk did not like that name so he shook his head as if to tell him no.

"would you like a different name? One that you like, one that won’t get teased.” buzz cut asked him. Skunk thought on it for a second. Yes he wanted a different name, he always got teased for his name and his hair. He nodded to tell them that, uh yeah! he would love a new name! His dad smiled and thought a second then said, "alright but don't let Ronan name you, he's terrible at naming things" his dad teased the buzz cut guy named Ronan. Ronan stared at Skunks father in disbelief with his mouth hanging open in retort. Skunk nodded and smiled a little. He wanted his dad to name him, mostly because he didn't want to let Ronan name him after hearing that he was terrible at naming things. 

"C-can you name me then?" Skunk stuttered, hoping his dad wouldn't get mad at him. His dad smiled kindly and calmly then thought on it. 

"How about Shado?" His dad said after a minute. Skunk thought on that, getting a feel for the name. He liked it, The former Skunk nodded in approval. 

"Yeah, I like that name" Shado told them with a smile. 

"Alright, let's get you something to eat okay? Then we can do whatever you want to do, sound good?" his shaggy haired dad asked him. It did sound good, better than he ever thought. His dad studied Shado's hair for a minute then spoke, "Hey Shado, would you like a hair cut sometime? I just think that whoever cut your hair or whoever tried to cut your hair isn’t a professional” his dad suggested. Shado bit his lip in order to keep from laughing at his dad. 

"What?" he asked. 

“Nothing, I was just wondering if you were asking me that question or yourself, seeing as your hair is really shaggy and long” Shado told him, trying to hide a smirk that formed on his face. Ronan snickered from behind his dad. 

"Believe me I’ve been telling him to get a haircut for a while now but he just won’t budge” Ronan said teasing his shaggy blonde father. His dad glared at Ronan then smiled at Shado. 

"Tell you what, since you're my son I'll get my haircut with you. Ronan can do it but he's not allowed to give us a buzz cut like he did to his own head" His dad smirked at them. Shado was kind of critical about having Ronan cut his hair since hearing that he was bad at naming things, so it was only right to be suspicious of getting a haircut by him. 

Shado nodded in agreement anyways. Shado thought about his friends and their fathers, about if this was what it was like to have a kind, giving, and really cool dad. Shado thought about how his step dad Butch wasn’t anything like his real dad. He thought about his friends and how he might not go to school with them anymore. His smile  became a frown within mere seconds. His dad wrapped his arms around Shado giving him a hug. 

“It’s okay, you’re safe now and we are never going to let anything happen to you” his father assured him kindly. 

“Yeah I know but it’s just…” he trailed off, unsure to tell them what he wanted to say. 

“Just what?” Ronan asked calmly with a hint of concern.

“C-can I still… go to school and see my friends? You know like… stay there to learn and stuff?” Shado wondered. He was nervous about what they might say. His dad smiled at him. 

“Takes after his dad” Ronan said with a smirk on his face. 

“Of course buddy, Whatever you want to do, but I only ask one thing” his dad told him.

“What’s that?” Shado wondered nervously. 

“Don’t try to cut school. The only time I’ll let you cut school is if something happens, alright?” his dad asked him with a soft smile. Shado smiled back at him and nodded.

“Alright” he said.

“Okay, now let’s eat some pizza!” Ronan cheered and basically flew to the kitchen. Shado’s dad raced after him shouting, “Save some for Shado, Ronan!” his dad scolded. 

“You’re going to have to hurry it up then Adam! I’m hungry!” Ronan teased. So his dad’s name was Adam, kind of suits him. He followed adam into the kitchen and got a slice of pizza before Ronan ate it all. 

“Why don’t we go over to Gansey and Blues in a few hours, you know they’ll want to meet him” Adam told Ronan. Shado could feel his eyes widening at the mention of the name Gansey. 

“You mean senator Gansey?” Shado asked them with excitement. Adam chuckled with a smile.

“No, Senator Gansey is Gansey’s father. Richard Gansey the second. His son is Richard Gansey the third, we went to school together but he was Ronan’s best friend before he was mine.” Adam told him. Shado was kind of disappointed but not too much. He also wondered who Blue was. Just a minute later Adam’s phone rang. 

“Hello? Whoa Gansey slow down, what’s wrong?” he said and there was a pause. Adam chuckled again under his breath again. “Okay we’ll be there in a few minutes but only if Ronan can keep to the speed limit, but if not we’ll be there in a minute or two” Adam said into the phone then hung up. 

“What’s wrong?” Ronan asked

“Blue’s having a meltdown about not having the right yogurt in the fridge.” Adam told them.

“A meltdown about yogurt?” Shado asked them with confusion. 

“Blue’s pregnant only two weeks with twins and she loves yogurt so when she has mood swings during pregnancy it usually results in one of Gansey’s wrists being completely suffocated and he loses feeling to his hand.” Adam shook his head with a smile. 

“Let’s go get her the right yogurt and some chocolates with tissues. Then we’ll get a punching bag for her so Gansey’s wrists won’t suffer anymore.” Adam said while writing it down on a notepad. Ronan smiled at him then went to get his shoes on. Adam did the same. 

Once they were in Ronan’s car, which was an awesome BMW, Adam told Shado to buckle up and hang onto one of the grips on the ceiling because Ronan was a speed demon on the road. Shado did as he was told and they shot out of the driveway and onto the street. In seconds they were at the store and Adam told Ronan to go find the punching bag while he went to find the yogurt, chocolates, and tissues. Shado went along with his dad and together they hunted for the items for the woman named Blue. Shado spotted the yogurt aisle. 

“Dad, there’s the yogurt!” Shado said and they rushed over. Adam picked out the yogurt that Blue apparently liked and put it into a shopping cart then ruffled Shado’s hair with a smile. 

“Good job at spotting the yogurt kiddo! Now let’s go find those chocolates!” Adam told his son. Shado was liking his dad more and more, he even thought of the list as a treasure hunt. Shado hadn’t felt this happy in a long time, he never wanted to go back to his mother ever again. A few minutes later they found the chocolates and the tissues, Ronan found them and hauled a huge punching bag into the cart. After they paid for the stuff and loaded them into the car Ronan ordered Adam to get in the cart. Adam sighed and got in without a fight. 

“Kid, what we’re about to do is not to be done at home alright? We are professionals” Ronan stated proudly. Shado nodded and Ronan took off, then as soon as the cart gained enough  speed he hopped onto the cart and they spun around until the cart got to the curb and the two men spilled out onto the grass and road. Shado ran over to them and saw that they were laughing. He smiled at them and shook his head. 

“Do you two do this all the time when you’re near a shopping cart?” he asked the two grinning men. 

“Only when we feel reckless or stupid” Ronan answered him with a huge grin plastered on his face. 

“Ronan started it when we were seventeen and somehow he still manages to reel me into it” Adam told him. 

“Oh come on, you know you love it” Ronan said and kissed Adam soundly on the lips. Shado was surprised at first but then relaxed because he knew he could tell them about his crush, but only when the time was right. When they pulled away from the kiss they looked up at him as if expecting him to call them out on the fact that his dad was bisexual and that Ronan was gay but he didn’t because he knew they loved each other and that was all that mattered. 

“I know what you’re thinking but before you say anything I just want you to know that… Ronan’s my boyfriend. I know that sound weird but it’s true” Adam informed him while rubbing the back of his neck. 

“It’s okay, it doesn’t sound weird. I mean you two love each other and... that’s all that really matters, right?” Shado said. His dad smiled at him and nodded then got up and hugged him which Shado gratefully returned. Ronan got up after Adam did and they walked back to the car. Once they got into the car and buckled up Ronan sped out of the parking lot. Shado was insanely happy as a jolt of excitement coursed through his body. After a few minutes they came to an old building that was once a factory by the looks of it. A man with glasses came rushing out the door with a panicked look in his eyes but it was hard to tell because of the glasses. As they got out of the car the man crushed Ronan with a hug and Ronan gently hugged him back and patted his back.

“Janes mood swings are skyrocketing with anger! I’ve tried to calm her down but I ended up having to take away her sewing kit and I had to hide all of the knives that were in the house!” The man said to Adam and Ronan. 

“It’s okay Gansey, we got the necessary items for Blue so she won’t take out her pregnant rage on you” Adam said calmly with a smile and they walked into the house. Shado heard crying and found a short woman sitting on the floor in front of the couch crying. Gansey went over and gave her a calming hug and kissed her on her forehead. 

“Hey Blue, we brought your yogurt and we got a bag of chocolate for you, along with tissues and a punching bag if you need it” Adam said kindly and softly crouching in front of her. She wiped her eyes with a tissue that Gansey gave her and took a chocolate bar that Ronan handed out to her. She spotted Shado and she smiled brightly at him. 

“When did you guys have a kid before me!?” Blue shouted joyously and they all turned to look at Shado. 

“That’s um… that’s a story we’ll tell you later and no we did not adopt him, he’s my biological son.” Adam told them. 

“Why does he have bruises on his face?” Gansey asked looking at Shado.

“My idiot step dad” Shado said and looked away. Gansey’s eyes widened and he went to the kitchen. He came back a few seconds later and gave Shado an ice pack that had Spider-man on it. Shado took it and pressed it to his face. 

“Gansey, go get the healing lotion for him!” Blue screeched and pulled Shado in for a tight hug as she cried on his shoulder. Gansey did as he was told and Shado was really surprised and shocked at the reaction his answer got. He was confused as to what healing lotion was. Adam and Ronan were smiling sympathetically as he was getting crushed by the small woman. 

Gansey came down the stairs a minute later with a bottle in his hands. Blue let go of Shado and Gansey put some of the lotion on the bruises. He didn’t put any on the parts that had dried blood, but he did put some around them. Blue was smiling kindly at Shado while Ronan and Adam were sitting off to the side, Ronan was sitting behind Adam with his arms wrapped around  Adam’s torso. Adam was laying back against Ronan with his head resting on Ronan’s shoulder while looking at Shado. They were smiling and seemed so relaxed that it made Shado happy to see them that way. Gansey was done with rubbing the lotion on Shado’s face and Shado felt the bruises start to disappear and the scratches on his face were healing too just leaving a tiny bruise where it once was. Gansey smiled kindly at him then he sat down on the couch behind Blue and started to give her a shoulder massage. Shado handed her another chocolate bar after she ate her other one and sat with his dad and Ronan. They all watched a few episodes of the flash then right in the middle of one someone knocked on the door. 

“Shado sweetie can you answer the door for me please?” Blue asked and he nodded getting up to answer it. When he opened it a guy with light blonde hair was standing at the door in a cashmere sweater and skinny jeans. The guy looked confused when Shado stood at the door. 

“Shado honey, who is it?” Adam shouted to the door from the next room over. 

“Some blonde guy in a cashmere sweater” Shado yelled back. 

“That would be henry buddy, let him in.” Ronan yelled from the other room that had Adam, Blue and Gansey in it, which was the living room. Shado held the door open even more then went back to the living room to sit with his father and Ronan. The guy named Henry walked in after him after shutting the front door. 

“You guys adopted a cute little kid and didn't even tell me?” Henry whined and Adam laughed. 

“No, we didn’t adopt him henry, Shado is my biological son. One of my ex girlfriends showed up with her idiot of an abusive husband and threw Shado on the porch with a lot of bruises on him. I took him inside and tended to his wounds. After Sydney and I broke up when we were sixteen she found out she was pregnant with him. She had no right to treat him the way she and that idiot did” Adam said with a frown on his face as he hugged Shado tight to his chest in a protective fatherly way. 

“When I woke up all I heard was Adam cussing her out while Shado was unconscious on the couch. I had half a mind to yell at her myself but then I saw how angry Adam was and after the big idiot punched him I was about to throw him off the porch but Adam being enraged as he was he punched the asshole in the mouth sending him flying backwards onto the gravel in the driveway and yelling at them both to go back to hell then he walked inside as if nothing happened and went over to Shado to tend to the bruises. I’m telling you right now Shado, we have never seen your dad hit anyone, you are so special to have him as your biological father” Ronan informed him after he told them his side of the story. Shado smiled at him and Adam as cheers and high fives went to his dad. 

“Serves them right!” Blue said and raised her chocolate bar in cheers to Adam. 

“Yeah, they deserved it!” Henry cheered after Blue. 

“Although it’s violent, I think they deserved more than just curse words and a punch in the face”  Gansey offered agreeing with them. Shado smiled at them and saw that his dad and Ronan were smiling at him too. 

“Hey Shado, since I’ve got work tomorrow would you like to help Ronan out around the house?” Adam asked. Shado nodded, seeing as this was the perfect chance to get to know the guy a little better. 

“Cool, you can help me with the cows and the gardening then we can get to work on doing your room and you can paint it whatever color you want and you can decorate it with anything you want” Ronan told him with a smile.

“Could you shop for clothes for him too? Knowing Boyd he might need me to work an extra hour” Adam stated. 

“Yeah we could do that after we paint his room but when you come home you’re going to make dinner” Ronan said jokingly and kissed Adam soundly on the lips. 

“Hey does this mean Gansey and I are Shado’s Uncles and Blue is his Aunt?” Henry asked them excitedly. Blue smiled a huge chocolatey smile and Gansey had a kind smile. 

“Yeah, I mean I guess so seeing as you guys are like our brothers and Blue is like a sister to us even though we’re not related by blood, but it still seems right that you two are his Uncles and Blue is his Aunt.” Adam spoke to them with a warm and loving smile. 


	3. Shado's Pov part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Shado meets Noah after staying one night in his new room.

After a long and exhausting day at his Aunt’s and Uncles house Adam, Ronan, and Shado went home but not before Shado fell asleep causing Ronan to carry him to the car like a baby. Shado usually had nightmares about Butch almost every night and tonight was that night. It started out with Sydney yelling at him that he was a mistake and should have never been born then she faded away and Butch appeared and beat him until he was nothing but blood and bruises then Butch faded away and Shado’s crush and friends appeared and laughed at him calling him Skunk. Then he felt his body shrink and grow fur as he turned into an actual skunk. 

Shado jolted awake, he was sweating and he looked around and panicked for a minute. Then he remembered that he was living at his dad’s house with his dad’s boyfriend Ronan. Shado was having a panic attack, he was shaking all over and it was getting harder to breathe. He looked over to the clock, it was four in the morning. He didn’t want to wake his dad and worry him but it was getting way too hard to try to control the panic attack. He heard footsteps come down the stairs and his dad appeared in overalls, sneakers and a t-shirt. 

“D-dad” Shado sobbed. Adam turned to look at him then his eyes widened in understanding as he rushed over to his son and sat down beside him. 

“Hey, it’s okay Shado, calm down, you’re safe now. You don’t ever have to go back to them, they do not define you baby boy” Adam said kindly and pulled his son toward him in a hug which caused Shado to cry. Ronan came down the stairs a few seconds later and he walked over to the two hugging boys. 

“What’s going on?” he asked sleepily. 

“Shado’s having a panic attack” Adam told his sleepy boyfriend. Shado tried to calm down more but he was scared that Ronan would get mad at him for waking him up. 

“Jesus christ” Ronan said with worry and concern. 

“Hey buddy look at me okay, I’m going to put my hand over your heart okay? Put your hand on mine and feel my heartbeat, listen to our voices okay, try to calm down bud” Ronan said putting a hand over Shado’s heart. 

Shado did as he was told and put a hand over Ronan’s heart and feeling the his heartbeat and listened to the two men's voices. Soon Shado was calm and both or their hearts beat at the same pace. Ronan took his hand away from his heart and Shado did the same. 

“Feel better?” Adam asked him. Shado nodded. 

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Shado wondered aloud to Ronan.  Ronan smiled softly at him. 

“I used to have panic attacks after my dad died. My older brother Declan taught me that, at first I thought it was kind of dumb but it really helped and I taught it to Adam a few months after I met him. It helped him too when he had panic attacks” Ronan informed him kindly. Shado smiled softly back at the two then Adam’s phone started to screech a song that Shado thought was kind of cool. Adam jumped at it looking startled and Ronan literally fell on the floor laughing.

“Really Lynch! You know I hate that song!” Adam screeched at his boyfriend and trying to turn off the alarm. Ronan was laughing so hard he couldn’t form words. Shado smiled at the two men being idiots. 

“I’ve got to go to work but when I get home you are so getting it Ronan!” Adam threatened teasingly as he walked out the door. After his dad shut the door Shado couldn’t hold it in any more and he burst out laughing with Ronan. A few minutes later they calmed down and Ronan let Shado borrow a black muscle tee that looked almost like a blouse on Shado but that was because he was smaller than Ronan. They set to work on chores around the house and soon Ronan led him outside to one of the barns. Shado followed him in and saw some of the strangest cows he had ever seen in his life. Some had purple eyes while some had red and green, others had brown and yellow eyes. He saw one with an orange eye and one blue eye with a pink tint around it. 

“Whoa, where’d these cows come from?” he asked Ronan out of curiosity. 

“That’s a story for another time kiddo but don’t worry, they’re completely harmless” Ronan told him and a small snow white cow with big blue eyes came up to Shado and nudged him with her little snout. 

“Winter likes you, I think she’s found herself a friend. She’s as old as you so it only makes sense. She’s the youngest cow in the herd too” Ronan informed him with smile and started milking one of the cows. “There’s even some deer around here also, along with a few bunnies. If you want you can go look for some of their burrows in the yard but take some carrots with you” Ronan told him and handed him a few carrots. 

“Cool, thanks” Shado said and went off in search of bunnies. It didn’t take him long to find a burrow with a few little bunnies inside. He scooped them up in the borrowed shirt to keep them warm until the mama bunny came back but he was out there for a few hours before Ronan  came looking for him. 

“Hey bud, did you find some bunnies yet?” Ronan asked him with a smile. 

“Yeah but their mama hasn’t come back yet” Shado informed him showing him the bunnies he gathered in the shirt. 

“Well since she hasn’t come back yet do you want to keep them?” Ronan asked the small boy with three bunnies. Shado felt excited at that as he nodded. 

“Yeah, but I want to name them, you can name one of them though okay?” Shado said and Ronan nodded. Shado handed over a bunny with white fur and black spots. 

“I think I’ll name this one… Spike” Ronan told him looking at the bunny. 

“Wow, dad was right, you are terrible at naming things” Shado says smirking at him. 

“As if you could do any better” Ronan retorted. 

“I could so and to prove it to you I’m going to call this one angel” he said holding up a white bunny with yellow ears. 

“And I’ll call this one midnight” he told him and held up a pure black bunny. 

“Alright you got me, you and your dad are better at naming things than I am” Ronan admitted with a defeated smile on his face. 

“Hah! I told you so!” Shado cheered in triumph. 

“Okay let’s go inside and feed them then we can give them a bath and work on your room after” Ronan said getting up and handing the bunny back to him. They went inside and Ronan showed him how to feed the little bunnies. They gave them a bath after that and Ronan showed him how to to properly bathe the baby bunnies one by one in the sink. 

“Remember, don’t fill the sink up too much and make sure the water isn’t too hot but not too cold” Ronan instructed him and he did as he was told. He enjoyed this time with Ronan. After they washed the bunnies Ronan got a cardboard box and put grass and a soft blanket down in it  for the bunnies. Shado put them in the box and made sure that they were nice and warm by putting a heating pad down underneath the blanket so the bunnies wouldn’t get cold. They made sure the temperature was just right for little bunnies then the two began to paint Shado’s room black, a color Shado chose of course. Shado said he wanted some white trees on the walls too, to seem like he was in a magical forest. Ronan nodded and began to paint the trees on the wall while Shado painted the rest black. Soon they had a dark green carpet covering the floor and the walls were a forest of black shadows and white trees. Shado even added a few birds and bones to the walls in paint. The pair even brought in Shado’s bed and put it together. After a while Shado had his own room decorated and arranged the way he liked. 

“Adam and I were talking last night about enrolling you into your school this fall” Ronan said a few minutes later. “Since it’s not too far away and since it’s near Aunt Blue and Uncle Gansey’s house, you could walk to their house after school if you wanted to, they said it would be fine if you did and since you’re going to school this year we decided that you can bring a friend over whenever you want as long as it’s okay with their parents, we know that a lot of kids that go to your school live around here and almost everyone in the neighborhood knows us because most of them are farmers and they taught me a lot about farming growing up. Everyone around here that knows us knows that we’re always protective around kids, especially the little ones.” Ronan informed him. Shado nodded in understanding. 

“Let’s go get you those clothes that Adam wanted us to shop for today before he comes home and sees that we didn’t” Ronan suggested and they went to the car and sped to the store where Shado found a few shirts jeans and comfortable pajamas he liked. They also bought him some combat boots, boots that he could get muddy, and a couple pairs of black and white sneakers with bones and skulls on them. They paid for the stuff and headed home where they played video games and ate McDonalds as they tried to out game one another. 

  
  



	4. Shado's pov part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Shado meets Noah and they become best friends. Shado's first day of school with a new haircut!

Shado woke up that night to someone crying in the corner of his room. It was a figure that kept fading, appearing and fading again. Shado got up and hesitated for a minute before carefully making his way to the boy that was crying in the corner of his room. 

“A-are you okay?” he asked the boy he knew was a ghost. The ghost boy had a uniform on and he had a smudged bruise on his cheek. The ghost boy had blonde hair and sickly pale skin. The boy looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes.

“W-w-where am I?” the ghost boy asked. 

“You’re in my room in my dad’s house. He’s really nice, so is Ronan, his boyfriend.” Shado told him calmly. 

“Y-your dad is Adam Parrish?” the ghost boy asked. 

“Yeah, if you want to meet him he’s probably downstairs but he might be asleep. What’s your name?” Shado asked the ghost. 

“Noah, Noah Czerny” he said softly. 

“Wait, you’re the Noah that they kept talking about? The one that Aunt Blue says she’s going to name one of her kids after?”  Shado said aloud with wonder. 

“Blue’s going to have kids? And she’s going to name one of them after me?” Noah asked with disbelief. 

“Yeah, everyone misses you a lot. My name’s Shado. My dad and Ronan said that this is a safe place where we can be happy and we can cry if we need to, you’re safe here Noah. my dad will make sure of that and so will Ronan” Shado assured him. 

Noah smiled at him gratefully and wiped his tears. 

“Thanks Shado, you’re a pretty cool kid, you know that? Now, do you know where any glitter is kept?” Noah asked looking around in search of glitter. Shado laughed at the curious ghost as he recalled times where Adam, Gansey, and Ronan had been victims of a prank using glitter. 

“Hey how about we put some glitter in dad’s shampoo” Shado suggested. 

“Yes! Let’s do it but first we need some pink and purple glitter. Pink for Ronan and purple for Adam, I always thought they were complete opposites at times but now they can share something that they both hate, and that thing is glitter. They can’t stand having glitter in their hair!” Noah said excitedly. No one could hear them because every room in the house was soundproof. They tiptoed into the bathroom and put pink glitter in Ronan’s shampoo then put purple glitter in Adam’s shampoo. They tiptoed out after that and waited for Adam and Ronan to scream at their glittery hair. A few hours later Adam and Ronan walked into Shado’s room with angry looks on their faces but it was so funny that Shado fell off his bed laughing. Noah was hiding in a corner by Shado’s bed. 

“They fell for it Noah! Just like you said!” Shado laughed on the floor and Noah came out from his hiding place and smiled widely at them and began to laugh alongside Shado. Adam and Ronan looked surprised and shocked at the same time. 

“N-Noah?” Adam stuttered. Ronan went from surprised and shocked to fuming with anger.

“Noah you asshole get over here!” he roared and hugged the ghost, as did Adam. 

“We missed you so much, but you didn’t have to talk Shado into putting glitter in our hair” Adam told him. Shado sat up on the floor. He was completely confused, why were his dad and Ronan hugging Noah like he just got back from a long vacation? 

“Okay, can someone explain why you guys are hugging him like he just got back from a vacation?” Shado asked them. His dad turned to him and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Shado, whenever Ronan and I were seventeen we met Noah, we didn’t know he was… dead but we found out a few weeks later when your Uncle Gansey and Aunt Blue found his bones on one of their cave expeditions. Here sit down we need to tell you something important, something we should have told you a few days ago, but now that you’ve met Noah I think it’s best to tell you a family secret” Adam told him softly. Shado sat down on the bed while his dad, Noah, and Ronan explained the secret. 

“Wait a minute, you mean that you’re connected to a magical forest, Ronan can actually pull things from his dreams, and Noah’s been dead since Uncle Gansey was seven? I can believe Noah but you guys? No way” Shado said in disbelief.

“Here I’ll show you” Adam calmly held out his hand and turned it over. Soon a flower bloomed in his hand without a seed. Shado was speechless. 

“Since my Cabeswater magician skills started when I was seventeen, only a year after you were born, I don’t think that you have anything to do with it, but Cabeswater was waiting for the perfect moment to tell me. So you could have an ability. Maybe one day we could take you to see it.” his dad told him kindly. Ronan looked at Shado seriously with a smile and nodded. Shado smiled back at them. 

“So, can we go see Blue and Gansey now? I want to see them!” Noah declared with excitement. 

“You can go see Blue and Gansey, we’ll call them and give them a heads up, but you have to put glitter in their shampoo too just as a warning before we call them” Ronan said to the ghost. 

“Yes sir!” Noah saluted and faded out of the room. Adam and Ronan chuckled.

“Let that be a lesson to you Shado. Never trust Noah with glitter, or else you’ll end up with glitter in your shampoo too” Adam informed him with a kind smile. Shado nodded and got up.

“Do we have anymore pizza? I’m hungry” Shado stated and they went downstairs to get some food. 

“I was actually going to go pick up some donuts for breakfast and chocolate milk” Adam told them while putting his shoes on. 

“Yes! Donuts for breakfast!” Shado and Ronan cheered together. Adam giggled under his breath at the sight of his boyfriend and his son smiling while pumping a fist in the air. 

“But I’m going to put a hat on, I don’t want people thinking I’m crazy or something like that because of Noah’s prank” he joked. Ronan and Shado just smirked at him. 

Once Adam left the house Shado and Ronan got started on their chores around the house. After they were done they started on some video games. 

“You ready for your first day at school next week?” Ronan asked him in the middle of a game.

“Yeah, but I’m even more excited to see my friends” Shado responded while keeping his focus on the game. 

“Yeah? How many friends do you have?” Ronan questioned kindly. 

“About two but that’s it. Sometimes I feel like they’re talking about me behind my back though, they never really hang around me all that much except for at lunch. But they can be kind of nice sometimes, other times they hang out with the really popular kids. I’m not all that popular at school so I like to fly under their radar, you know like just stay away, blend into the crowd” Shado reported. Ronan nodded in understanding then spoke.

“Your dad was the same way back in highschool. He always flew under everyone’s radar even though Gansey and I always noticed him. He got bullied by a really mean guy who always took drugs and got drunk almost every day. The guy and I got into a fight almost every single day since I met Adam” Ronan told him and put down his video game controller. 

“What was the guy’s name?” Shado asked putting down his controller too.

“Joseph Kavinsky, he was an annoying asshole who thought he could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. He always had a crush on me but I fell for Adam instead. They were and still are complete opposites. Adam is always kind and giving while Kavinsky was always a jerk and took everything he wanted. Kavinsky was a dreamer like me but instead of making things that were safe he did the exact opposite. He dreamt drugs in the form of pills and forced people to take them. He even tried to drug me and Adam once but your Aunt Blue marched right up to him and told him to go to hell. He called her one word that you should never use to describe her and she kicked his ass for it. He couldn’t sit down for a week, nor could he stand up” Ronan said to him and laughed quietly under his breath. 

“I’m guessing that word he described her was… midget?” Shado questioned. Ronan smiled at him. 

“Yeah, but the only people who get to call her that are Adam, me, your Uncle Henry, Noah, and Gansey even though he never does because he doesn’t want to offend her like the first time he did when they met.” Ronan said with a smile. 

“What did he say when they met?” Shado asked out of curiosity.

“He accidentally implied that she was a prostitute. That caused an argument that we had to intervene in. Adam had to calm her down and I had to pull Gansey away to give him a lecture on how to talk to girls” Ronan informed him which caused Shado to laugh. 

“He called her a prostitute!?” Shado cried while laughing. Soon Ronan was laughing alongside him. Adam walked through the door just a minute later and they were still laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he asked while smiling at the two goofballs. 

“I told him the story about when Blue and Gansey met” Ronan informed him. Adam smiled even wider then started to giggle. He set the donuts and chocolate milk on the table. 

“Chocolate jelly filled donuts for everyone!” Adam said as he opened the box. There were six donuts, two for each boy. They ate them then drank the milk (in separate glasses of course). 

“How do you feel about going back to school next week buddy?” his dad asked him after a while. 

“Nervous but excited. Nervous because jack and john will be there, they’re the school bullies and high schoolers. Excited because I get to see my friends, even though I only have two.” Shado informed him. Adam hummed thoughtfully for a minute then spoke. 

Well, Ronan will be waiting for you after school and maybe jack and john won’t pick on you” his dad said and Ronan nodded. Shado smiled at them. 

“And remember, if they start to pick a fight don’t retaliate. Violence solves nothing. I never learned how to fight but Ronan did, I want you to learn to defend yourself but I don’t want you to hit anyone alright, just learn how to block them if they hit you, alright?” he ordered seriously and Shado nodded. 

“I’m going to be the one teaching you how to block your opponents okay? And per your dad’s request I won’t be teaching you how to punch or kick.” Ronan told him while holding Adam’s hand. Shado nodded in approval, he didn’t want to learn to kick or punch anyway, it brought back too many memories. He didn’t want to become Butch. Adam’s phone rang and he answered it. 

“Hello? Mama? Wait what? Slow down” he said into the phone. His expression hardened then became filled with fear. 

“Okay just get out of the house! Don’t look back! What? Oh god, I’ll be right there just find a place to hide alright I’m coming” he said clearly scared and worried. He hung up and grabbed his jacket. 

“What’s wrong, Adam?” Ronan asked in concern. 

“My dad’s drunk again and he’s really pissed off with mom. He’ll kill her if I don’t go get her!” Shado’s frightened father said. 

“We’ll come with you! Shado can stay in the car. I’ll hold off Robert while you get your mom, Shado once we get there I want you to call 911, alright?” Ronan planned. Shado nodded and got his shoes on. Soon they were speeding to Adam’s childhood home then they pulled into the  driveway. Ronan handed Shado his phone and got out of the car along with Adam. Shado stayed in the car and did as he was told. 

“Hello? My grandma needs an ambulance! My grandpa is drunk and really angry! We need the cops right now!” Shado said into the phone sounding panicked. 

“Slow down kid, can you tell us where you are?” the person on the other line questioned. 

“We’re in a trailer park, there’s a black BMW in the driveway! Please hurry!” Shado told them. 

“We’ll be there in a few minutes just try to stay calm okay kiddo? Help will be there as soon as possible.” the person told him while staying calm then hung up. Adam came out of the house a few minutes later carrying a bruised up elderly woman. 

“Shado open the door! I’m going to put her in the backseat” his father informed him. Shado did as he was told then scooted over for the old woman. She had some blood on her lips and more that a few bruises. Shado immediately reached for the emergency kit. He cleaned up most of the blood he could see the reached into the glove box and found an ice pack that never melted, a dream thing from Ronan. Shado put the ice pack on her wrist which was where most of the bruises seemed to be.

“What a good boy” his grandmother whispered and closed her eyes. He heard an ambulance and police siren pull up by the curb. Paramedics and officers got out of the vehicles. Shado got out of the car. 

“My grandma’s over here!” he said and opened the car door for them to take a look at her. 

“Where’s your grandpa kid?” an officer asked him seriously. 

“He’s inside. My dad and my dad’s boyfriend were trying to hold him off until you guys showed up” Shado told him. 

The officers ran into the house and came out a few minutes later with a dangerous, menacing looking man who was screaming in outrage. Adam and Ronan came out after them with a few bruises on themselves too but not too many. Shado ran up to them and hugged them. As soon as the man named Robert Parrish was in the back of a police cruiser an officer walked up to  them. 

“You two men were very brave to do that, and your boy here was very good at cleaning some of the blood up from the woman’s wounds she had that were visible. You even did a good job of putting that ice pack on the worst of the bruises around her wrist. You three are her heroes” the officer said kindly. 

“She’s my mom, I would never want her to get hurt, nor my son.” Adam said to the officer. 

“Of course, well would you like to ride with her to the hospital? Her wounds aren’t too bad but she does have a broken rib and broken ankle. Other than that she’ll live” the officer said kindly. Adam nodded. 

“Shado bud, do you want to ride with me with your grandma to the hospital and Ronan can meet us there?” Adam asked his son. Shado nodded and followed him into the ambulance. Ronan got in the BMW and stayed behind them all the way to the hospital. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. part 4

They sat in the waiting room for over an hour. Shado was starting to fall asleep in the chair he was sitting in. Adam had his head leaning on Ronan’s shoulder and Ronan had an arm around Adam’s shoulders in a comforting way. 

A doctor walked up to them a few seconds later. 

“Is she going to be okay?” Adam asked him. Shado’s father gad concern and worry filling the look on his face. It made Shado feel… empty and sad to see him that way. 

“She’s going to be fine, she’s asked for me to take you to her” the doctor said and led them to her room. 

She was sitting on the hospital bed with a cast on her foot and around her ankle acting like a piece of armor to keep her foot and ankle from getting hurt. She had a few bruises on her arms and the worst of them were already healing but very slowly. Adam walked over to her and sat at her side on the bed.

“Hey mama, how do you feel?” Adam asked her softly. 

“Oh, I’m fine. How are you kind baby boy?” she asked with a kind smile. 

“I’m well mama. This is my son, Shado, and you remember my boyfriend Ronan” Adam indicated to them. Shado stood by his father and looked at the elderly woman sitting on the bed. 

“This was the young boy who cleaned the blood from my mouth in the car with a tissue and put an ice pack on my wrist” she exclaimed quietly. 

“Do you remember one of my ex girlfriends, Sydney?” he asked her.

“Yes I do. She always wanted you to buy her something, something way too damn expensive, excuse my language. I remember that you broke up with her after she slapped you ‘cause you wouldn’t buy her that stupid shiny purse she saw in the mall that was on sale for about a hundred bucks! She was and I’m guessing still is a selfish woman. I was glad when you broke up with her, you and Ronan deserve each other, and you deserve this kind little boy right here to be part of your family” Shado’s grandmother declared like a judge would declare someone innocent or guilty. Adam smiled at the woman warmly. 

“Well it just so happens that after I broke up with her she found out she was pregnant with a baby boy. She even named him Skunk because of his hair” Adam informed her. She looked  shocked and turned her head towards Shado. 

“We renamed him because he didn’t like the name, so his name is Shado. We even went to the courthouse to change his name from Skunk Johnson to Shado Parrish, or if Ronan would put a ring on it already he would be Shado Lynch” Adam accused. Adam’s mother laughed out loud. Ronan blushed and soon everyone in the room started to laugh at the accusation. Ronan muttered something about Adam being so impatient under his breath in a teasing way. 

After a few hours of spending time with Ava Parrish visiting hours were over and they had to go home. 


	6. part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shado's first day of school.

Shado was still sleeping but someone was shaking him awake. 

“Shadoooo, time to get uuup” someone ordered him kindly. He opened his eyes and rubbed them groggily. His dad was gently shaking him awake. 

“What time is it?” he asked in an annoyed and tired tone. His dad chuckled softly under his breath.

“It’s time for you to get up for school, it’s your first day! You don’t want to be late so up and at ‘em!” Adam chanted and got up then walked out of the room. That right, it was his first day of school, what was he going to wear!? He got out of bed and put on a black skull t-shirt with white and black striped sleeves and some faded black jeans. He laced his sneakers onto his feet and walked downstairs to eat some breakfast then after that he brushed his teeth and got his backpack along with his school supplies. 

“Let’s go bud!” adam said excitedly and practically flew out the door to the car. Shado rolled his eyes with a smile and followed him out the door after giving Ronan a hug goodbye. 

“Remember, I’ll be picking you up after school kiddo!” Ronan shouted after him once he reach the car. Shado gave him a thumbs up and put himself and his stuff into the back seat of the car. Adam put on a song and hummed to the tune of it all the way there. Shado put in his head phones and played the songs on his playlist until they stopped in the school parking lot. 

“Have a good day at school Shado!” Adam cheerfully told him from the car as he got out. Shado smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up and the car pulled away. 

Once he walked into school he put up his walls and went to his locker. He got his school supplies out of his backpack and arranged them in the way he thought was most tidy and started to decorate his locker. After he was done he gathered up his textbook, calculator, ruler, pencils, and notebook then went to his first class of the day, which was advanced algebra. He took a seat in the back of the class. There was a girl sitting in the front row with a blinding smile plastered on her face. He hated it. He never really liked girls(except for his Aunt Blue of course). Girls never really liked him (again except for Aunt Blue) and that was okay by him. The girl  looked at him, got up and walked towards him then held out her hand and flashed a smile his way.

“Hi! I’m Darla, I hope you have an exceptionally great year this year at school!” smiley said to him. He took her hand and shook it gently.

“Shado, you too” he said and retracted his hand from her firm grip. She kept smiling at him. 

“Since we have a few minutes before class starts how about we tell each other something about ourselves. Like what we like to do or what our favorite animal is!” Darla told him excitedly. 

“I’m guessing that you like to sing and I’m also guessing that your favorite animal is a bunny” Shado suggested. She looked shocked for a minute as her eyes went wide. 

“How’d you know!” she wondered happily. 

“My Aunt’s mom is a psychic so she taught me a few things” Shado answered. 

“My favorite animal is the Raven, and I like to paint and play video games” Shado informed her.

“Cool! I like to play video games in my spare time too, sometimes I like to paint too but not all the time. Maybe you could show me some of your paintings sometime!” She declared. Shao didn’t like to brag about his painting skills. 

“Sure, I mean if you want to come to my house sometime we could look at a few of my paintings but I’m not very good at it” he told her. Shado didn’t know why something about her made him want to open up more but if he wanted a friend then she would be the first person he picked to hangout with. She was nice, happy, and overall a really cool person. 

“You don’t have to be good at it you just have to like what you’re doing! I’m not very good at singing but I still do it!” Darla offered. He smiled softly at her. Dang, her smile was infectious but not crush worthy, besides he found out a year ago that he was gay, so definitely not crushing on any girls. 

“Oh come on, you could probably outsing my dad in a heartbeat” he informed her with a smirk. 

“I don’t know, I can’t really sing in front of anyone, mostly because I have stage fright and I black out.” she said nervously. 

“Yeah I get that. Ronan once told me that maybe we don’t have fears, maybe our fears are afraid of us. He said that sometimes we just have to face them so they won’t be scared of us anymore” he calmly stated. 

“Wow, this Ronan guy sounds pretty cool!” she told him cheerfully. 

“He is, you might meet him after school, but don’t let his looks fool you. He’s like a giant teddy bear” said Shado enthusiastically. She smiled another blinding smile. Soon kids started to file into the classroom. 

“Hey would you want to sit at lunch with me?” Darla asked him calmly. 

“Sure but you’d better hurry back to your seat before someone else steals it from you” he  informed. She nodded and went back to her seat with a smile on her face. 

After the teacher told them the classroom rules he gave them a pop quiz to know what he should teach them this year. The quiz wasn’t too hard, it was actually really easy for him. He flew through it with a little extra time to study his textbook. The class hour was over quickly enough and he walked out of the classroom the minute the bell rang. Darla caught up to him and flashed him one of her blinding smiles. He smiled back at her softly. They were two opposites, like the Sun and the Moon. 

“Hey what’s your next class?” Darla asked him. He showed her his schedule. She beamed at it. 

“We have all the same classes!” she cried joyously. 

“Cool, let me just drop off some stuff at my locker real quick” he said casually. He deposited his math stuff in his locker and got his latin stuff out then they headed to latin class. Latin was apparently supposed to be one of the advanced classes he and Darla shared. Actually they had every class together. Once they walked into the classroom Darla sat next to him in the back and then class started with the teacher going over class rules and latin verbs. Shado intently listened to everything the teacher was saying and so was Darla. The rest of the school day up to lunch went by pretty fast. Shado got his lunch out of his locker after depositing his books and went outside to eat. Everyone went outside to eat so it was only right that Shado followed but he sat under a tree and waved Darla over. She gladly took the opportunity and walked over with a bounce in her step. She sat down and they started eating. Shado got out his latin textbook and started to read. 

“Didn’t we already have latin?” Darla jokes. 

“Yeah but my dad says it’s important to study other languages and stuff for school so we know how to pronounce and say thing to people who are from other countries and states. That way we can have conversations with them and not get confused” Shado told her while intently studying his textbook. She gave a sound of approval. 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” she asks him while smoothing out her wrinkled  dress. 

“I don’t know, I’m thinking about becoming a scientist or at least a doctor. That way I can find a cure for cancer and other stuff like that. Did you know that almost 12.7 million people get cancer each year and 7.6 million die from it? That’s why I want to become a scientist and a doctor, so that I can find a cure for it and save millions of lives!” he explained while imagining finding the cure for cancer. Darla smiled at him in an adoring almost in awed way. 

“What do you want to be?” he asked her. 

“ I want to be an explorer, I want to find unknown things and study them. This might be weird but I also want to find things that relate to supernatural or paranormal things! My idol is Richard Gansey the Third. He’s been looking for an ancient welsh king since he was seven! He’s even claimed that when he died due to too many bee stings when he was seven a welsh king spoke in his mind and brought him back to life to find him! Doesn’t that sound cool?” Darla said excitedly. 

“Yeah it does, tomorrow I’m going to be walking to my Aunt and Uncle’s house after school if you want to walk with me.” he declared and got up as the warning bell rang. 

“Sure, but I have to ask my mom if I can go with you” she said getting up. Shado knew that she would be over the moon happy about getting to meet her idol, which happened to be his uncle. So he thought he would invite her along. He wanted to do something nice for her even though he just met her that morning. The rest of the day past by like Ronan’s driving skills, fast and exciting. Shado saw the BMW parked at the end of the parking lot but before he could make his way to the car strong hands pushed him against the wall of the school. 

“Hey Skunk, welcome back to school, we heard that you go by Shadow now” Jack snarled with a smile. 

“It’s Shado you neanderthals!” he gritted out. 

“Shado are you okay?” Darla said and ran up to him. She tried to pull Jacks arm away but ended up getting pushed back and John held her by the arms.

“Hey you little punks get away from them!” Ronan shouted as he jogged over. Jack and John looked terrified. John let Darla go and she ran over to Shado and hid behind him as Jack stepped back away from him. 

“You think that just because you’re bigger than them that it makes it okay to pick on them? You two should be ashamed. I have half a mind to call your parents. Go home and don’t ever let me catch you threatening these two again, understood?” Ronan growled at the two now frozen boys. They nodded and ran off. 

“Serves them right. You two okay?” he asked them.

“Yeah we’re okay, thanks Ronan” said Shado gratefully. A woman ran over to Darla and inspected her arms. 

“Oh my sweet little flower are you alright? I saw those two idiot high schoolers and came over as fast as I could.” the woman asked. She looked like an older version of Darla, he figured it was her mother. 

“Yeah I’m okay mom, Shado’s friend Ronan helped us. He even threatened to call their parents!” Darla said excitedly. 

“Really?” she questioned with a smile and eyed Ronan. “I’m Doris, Darla’s mother. Thank you for helping her. How did you meet Shado here?” she asked him.

“Oh uh, I’m… I’m Shado’s dad’s… boyfriend” he stuttered and rubbed the back of his neck. Her eyes widened in surprise. 

“Don’t let Ronan’s looks fool you Mrs. Doris, he may look big and scary on the outside but on the inside he’s a big teddy bear” Shado told her with a smirk. 

“Am not!… Ronan huffed and crossed his arms then continued, “okay I might have qualities of a teddy bear but I am not a full on teddy bear” he smiled kindly. Darla’s mother smiled back calmly and casually. 

“Well, Shado’s father seems like a lucky man to have you” she told him. 

“Yeah, but just so you know Shado’s dad is the one who’s a full on teddy bear, I’m just a grumpy old farmer” he said jokingly with a smile. Doris giggled.

“You’re funny, I’ll be sure to mention you to the school board about helping out with the fundraisers we do every year” she told him with a kind, business like smile. 

“Cool, thanks” Ronan gladly said. 

“Hey Ronan, I was wondering if Darla could come over and see the paintings I made” Shado wondered aloud.

“That’s up to her mom, but it’s okay with me” Ronan supported. 

“That’s fine, we could follow you there just so I know how to get there if Darla wants to come over sometimes” she informed them. 

“Alright, let’s go then. After you ladies.” Ronan said and the two girls went to their car. Once Shado and Ronan got into the BMW and buckled up.

“You’ll need to go the speed limit so we don’t lose them Ronan, or else Doris might think you were trying to get rid of her and send her on a wild goose chase” Shado scolded.

“Yeah yeah, I know. Geez you sounded like Gansey” Ronan chuckled under his breath. Shado smiled and they drove out of the parking lot and let Doris and Darla follow them home. 

When they pulled into the driveway Shado saw his dad bent over the engine of his shitbox of a car and fixing something that was wrong with it. Ronan parked by it then undid his seat belt and got out. Shado undid his seat belt and got out of the car as well. He noticed that His Uncle Ganseys Camaro was in the driveway too. 

“Hey dad, this is my new friend Darla and her mom Doris” Shado informed him. Adam got out from underneath the car’s hood and wiped his hands off with a rag.

“Hi I’m Adam. It’s good to hear that Shado has a new friend this year!let’s go inside before it starts to get too hot out here” Adam shook her hand and led them inside. 

“Shado! How was your first day of school sweetie?” Aunt Blue asked crushing him in a hug as soon as he got into the kitchen. 

“It was good Aunt Blue, how was your day?” he asked kindly to his pregnant Aunt.

“It was good, but someone just had to take my sewing kit away” Aunt Blue accused as she eyed Uncle Gansey.

“For shame Uncle Gansey. You should know by now that you can’t take away her sewing kit. She’ll get mad.” he said teasingly.

“Oh I think my wrist has felt her wrath enough so I don’t think I’ll be touching her sewing kit anytime soon” Uncle Gansey said cautiously. Darla was frozen in complete surprise and staring at Gansey. 

“Uncle Gansey this is my new friend Darla, she’s a really huge fan of welsh kings. Maybe you could teach her more on the subject?” Shado suggested. Uncle Gansey’s eyes lit up and he scrambled to get his briefcase. 

“I have spent almost my whole life studying and learning all that I can on welsh kings! I never thought that someone so young could even be a fan of them!” He cried out joyously and opened his briefcase to get out maps and documents and journals of everything he’d collected about welsh kings over the years. Darla just gaped at him like she was meeting God. 

“Oh no, a little Gansey minion.” Aunt Blue smiled and shook her head.

“Aunt Blue this is Darla’s mother, Doris” Shado told her. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Ooh, your nails are so pretty!” she said and they walked off to talk about girly things. 

“Shado! When I told you about my fascination in welsh kings you didn’t tell me your Uncle was Richard Gansey the Third!” Darla accused with a smile. 

“You never asked” he shrugged. It was technically true, she _ talked  _ about him but she never actually  _ asked  _ if he knew him. Darla frowned for a minute then smiled and went over to Uncle Gansey and soaked up every word he said like a sponge. After they talked about welsh kings they followed Shado to his room where he showed them his paintings. 

**** “Wow! You painted all these? They’re so good!” Darla said in awe. Shado didn’t like to be praised on his artwork, it made him feel uncomfortable and wanting to do better. 

“Yes I completely agree with Darla, they are amazingly accurate!” Uncle Gansey praised. Shado thought that that meant something so he let himself feel a little bit proud of his work. 

“Ronan taught me how to paint.” Shado informed them and picked up midnight  (the pure black bunny) from its box then started to pet him. Darla squealed at the sight of the bunny. 

“You have a bunny!” she cried and ran over to pet it. 

“I have three” he corrected and pointed to the box. She squealed even louder and picked up Angel (the bunny with white fur and yellow ears) and Spike (the white bunny with black spots). 

Darla’s mom, Aunt Blue, Ronan and Adam all rushed into the room at once to see what the squealing was about. Of course they all smiled when they saw the two twelve year olds holding bunnies. 


	7. Part 6 - Three years later.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shado and Darla are fifteen and best friends, Shado tells her about his crush on the most popular kid in school but what happens when a new kid tries to steal Shado's heart? will Shado accept him or will he stay in love with the guy he'd been crushing on since fifth grade?

Shado needed to get something off his chest,more accurately he needed to tell his best friend Darla that he was crushing on someone. Shado and Darla were like brother and sister, they told eachother everything and did everything together. They even knew everything about each other. Two years ago Shado felt like he trusted her so much that he decided to tell her about his mom. She was silent for a few minutes after he told her but then she hugged him right on the spot. After that they didn’t hide any secrets from each other, except for the secret that Shado liked guys. He was about to round a corner when he heard someone talking about him. He decided to record it without any thought since he was already recording it.

“Why do you hang out with him, he’s so depressing and he’s a loser. We really want to hang out with you Darla, but we can’t if he’s around” someone said. He stopped and listened to her answer and kept recording it with his phone. 

“He’s not depressing and he’s not a loser. If you got to know him better then you would know that! And why would I hang out with someone as mean and as assuming as you anyway? I mean come on! You’re so not the nicest person you try to make yourself out to be. I only hang out with nice and cool people like Shado, you are the complete opposite of him, you’re rude, mean, cruel, and so not cool! I don’t see how anyone could like you” Darla snapped. Then he heard a slap. Shado peered around the corner and Darla had a huge hand-like fed shape of the side of her face. He gasped and rushed over to her.

“Are you okay Darla? Here let me see it” he ordered and she let him inspect the red handprint that was now forming a bruise on her face. 

“You bitch!” he screeched at the school diva. 

“You had no right to do that! Who do you think you are just doing that to whoever you want!” he yelled and everyone turned to look at them. A teacher marched right over to the three teenagers. 

“What’s going on here?” Mr. Simons demanded.

“Mykala slapped Darla! She had no right to do that!” he fummed. Mr. Simons looked at the hand print bruise that was forming on Darla's face. 

“Mykala, Principal’s Office, Now!” he barked and steered Darla to the nurses office. Shado sped after them still fuming but mostly worried. 

The nurse gave Darla an ice pack and the principal called Shado and Darla into the office. Mykala was already there and her eyes were red like she’d been crying, but she secretly smirked at them from behind her hands then proceeded to fake cry. He hated it. 

“Mykala here tells me that you two forced her to slap Darla, I’m wondering if that’s true. Shado, seeing as you’re always truthful would you like to tell me your side of the story?” Principal Stevenson asked kindly but seriously.

“Yeah  ut instead of telling you how about I show you seeing as Mykala would probably try to lie her way out of it” Shado said savagely.

“I was making a video about our school and how cool it is and I just happen to overhear their conversation right before Mykala slapped her.” Shado informed him and played the video he took on his phone. Mr. Stevenson watched intently until Shado heard a slap coming from the phone. Mr. Stevenson paused the video and stared at it for a minute.

“Mykala, since new evidence comes to light I am suspending you for two weeks. We do not tolerate violence at our school. And since you decided to assume things about Shado I am going to assign you to spend every afternoon with him until your suspension is over, do I make myself clear?” he declared. Mykala stared at him with her mouth forming and O shape as she gaped at him in horror.

“Good, now I’ll call your mother and tell her about your punishment and as for you Darla I am truly sorry for Mykala’s actions.” he stated apologetically. 

“Oh and Shado? Could you email me that video for evidence and you can make a new one, hopefully without disruptions like this?” he asked him. Shado nodded and took his phone to email the video to him. 

“There, it’s been emailed directly to your inbox. I’ve deleted it off of my phone but it should stay  in the email” Shado informed him. The Principal nodded and the two teenagers made their way out of the office. 

“I feel so sorry for you, you have to spend every afternoon for two weeks being tortured by her” Darla smiled sympathetically. 

“Correction, she has to spend every afternoon for two weeks being tortured by getting to know me. It’ll be like the wicked witch of the west n the wizard of oz when she gets water dumped on her, ‘oh I’m melting, I’m melting, I’m melting ahhh!’” he acted out pretending to get melted by water while walking. Darla laughed at his performance. It made him feel good to make her laugh. 

“Hey Darla, there’s something I’ve been needing to tell you for a while now I just don’t know how to say it” he said and rubbed the back of his neck. But before she got the chance to respond Bryson Conners jogged over to them. The most popular kid in school and also his crush was going to talk to them!

“Hey Darla, I heard about what happened with Mykala, you alright?” he asked. 

“Yeah I’m fine but she got two weeks suspension and has to spend every afternoon with Shado as punishment for calling him a few choice words I would definitely not choose to call him” she informed him. Bryson looked over to Shado and smiled. Shado loved his smile, he could feel a fierce blush on his ears. 

“That’s going to be torture for you dude, she’s really high strong, not to mention really selfish and cruel. I really hope you survive the experience” he joked. 

“Y-yeah, I’ve suffered worse torture in the past” he stuttered and kept rubbing the back of his neck. Bryson laughed at that and his cheeks started to turn red as he looked away from Shado to look at some lockers.”well then you’re stronger than I took you for granted. Anyway I came to tell you that you’re going to be my tutor for math, colins assigned it, so… see you after school? I can come over to your house if that’s okay?” he said.

“Um, uh, y-yeah, sure, I just need to call my dad and give him a heads up” Shado said and tore his gaze away from the really hot guy in front of him. 

“Cool, well… see you guys later, peace” Bryson told them and walked away. Shado starred as he walked away and out of sight. 

“Shado? Hello? Earth to Shado!” Darla exclaimed as she waved a hand in front of his face. He snapped out of his trance and turned to look at a smirking Darla. 

“When were you going to tell me about your secret crush on him?” she asked in an accusing and teasing tone. 

“I-I was going to tell you right before he walked over here” Shado informed her trying to hide a fierce blush but failing miserably. 

“Someone’s got a man crush, someone’s got a man crush!” she sang quietly. 

“Shut up, but seriously, what if I completely embarrass myself in front of him when I tutor him at my house? What if I say something and he doesn’t talk to me ever again” shado panicked and turned towards the lockers and started to bang his head on it. 

“Hey, all you have to do is be yourself. Have you even told your dads about your crush? Or that you’re gay?” she questioned. He went pale. Adam and Ronan got married over a year ago when Adam turned thirty. Shado hadn’t even told them he was gay, let alone that he had a crush on someone. 

“I need to call them to give them a heads up.” he said and got out his phone.

“Hey buddy, what’s up. Did you forget your lunch again?” Adam asked on the other side of the phone.

“No but I’m going to be having a friend over after school for tutoring”

“Alright, who are you tutoring?”

“A guy named Bryson Conners, he’s really nice, and I might also… like him?” he hesitated and waited for the blow. 

The other end went silent for a few beats then, “That’s great kiddo, I’ll try to make sure that Ronan and I don’t embarrass you in front of him” Adam assured. Shado let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks dad, I’ll see you after school” said Shado and he relaxed some. 

“No problem bud, see you after school. Love you” 

“Love you too dad” he said then hung up.

“So, how’d it go?” Darla asked with a knowing smile.

“He took it pretty well” Shado informed her with a smile of his own. 


	8. Chapter 8

Ronan was waiting in the school parking lot when Shado got out of school. Shado was so nervous about Bryson meeting his Dads that he was mentally screaming all the way to the car. 

“Hey Papa, this is my friend Bryson. The one I told dad about on the phone” Shado told him. Bryson looked at him with a confused look on his face. ‘Oh shit, please don’t bail out on the tutoring session!’ Shado thought. 

“Hi Bryson, I’m Ronan, Shado’s stepdad” Ronan told him and shook his hand. 

“Cool, it’s nice to meet you Mr., uh “ he started as if trying to search his brain for a name.

“Dude it’s okay, you don’t have to be formal around me or Adam. just call me Ronan” Shado’s stepfather informed him with a warm smile and got in the car. Shado got in the back seat and Bryson did the same. 

“Papa, don’t go over the speed limit, please” Shado begged. 

“Oh come on where’s the fun in that? Besides, almost all of your friends love my driving skills” Ronan smiled dangerously. “Hang on Bryson, because we’re about to go into hyper speed.” Ronan ordered and punched the gas with his foot. They shot out of the parking lot and onto the street. A few sharp turns had Bryson and Shado crashing into each other. After one sharp turn Bryson’s back and torso crash landed onto Shado’s chest and Bryson was laying on him for a second then he sat up. Bryson was blushing and biting his lip. Shado was just blushing. 

Soon they were at Shado’s house and they got out of the car.

“That was awesome Ronan! It was so fast, you’re like a car racer!” Bryson exclaimed once he was out of the car. 

“Ronan did you show off to one of Shado’s friends again?” Adam asked getting out from underneath one of their cars. 

“I just like to make a good impression on them, you know I can’t resist showing off my street racing skills Babe” Ronan said and kissed Adam soundly on the lips. Bryson looked surprised. 

Shado bit his lip and walked over to the two men.

“I’m sure Bryson came here to get help with his math guys, not watch you two make out” Shado stated to them as they pulled apart. Both men blushed and looked away from them while smiling. 

“R-right, well let’s go inside. It’s supposed to get pretty hot out today and we wouldn’t want you two to get a heat stroke” Adam said and steered them inside while still blushing. 

Once they got inside it was cooler than outside, it was like having a fan blow the air around ice cubes into your face. Adam got them some ice cream and brownies with milk for a snack as they worked on improving Bryson’s math skills. 

“Hey Shado after that would you go feed the cows for me? I need to run to the store to grab some new feed for the horses.” Ronan wondered as he peered in a few minutes later. 

“Yeah, actually I could go do that right now, we need a break on math anyway” Shado said and got up. 

“Can I see the cows? I’ve never seen one up close, only at a distance” Bryson asked. 

“Sure, go right ahead. I’ll be back in a few” Ronan called from the door then shut it. The two boys made their way to the cow barn. Shado opened the door and started to feed the cows. Winter came up to him and bumped him in the back. 

“Hey girl, what’s up?” he asked the cow kindly with a smile. She nudged him again and he fell into some mud, at least he hoped it was mud. Nope definitely not mud.

“Winter! That was totally uncalled for you jerk!” Shado shouted joyously and the cow rolled in the manure right beside him. He got up and laughed. 

“Oh crud, this is so pathetic. I’m sitting here covered in cow shit while laughing” he chuckled and got up. Bryson was laughing too as they walked out of the barn. 

“I swear to you that cow’s gone crazy” Shado said with a smile. Once they entered the house Adam looked at them and smiled. 

“Winter push you into cow dung again?” he asked kindly and teasingly. 

“Yeah, I’m going to go take a shower real quick then I’ll come back down to help you more with your math, alright?” Shado stated and went upstairs to take a shower. Once he was done Shado changed into clean clothes and went back downstairs. He found Bryson and Adam talking and eating brownies in the kitchen. 

“Hey kiddo, we were  just talking about you, nothing embarrassing I promise” Adam informed  him. Just then Aunt Blue burst through the door with two toddlers running in and around the house. Nicky and Noah. Noah had stormy grey eyes while Nicky had bright blue eyes. 

“Sorry to drop in on you like this you guys but Nicky and Noah kept demanding to see Shado” Aunt blue said sounding out of breath. 

“It’s okay Aunt Blue, we need a distraction from homework for a while anyways” Shado said with a smile and picked up the toddlers. 

“Hey guys how about we go play outside in the backyard and catch fireflies!” he told them trying his best to sound excited for the little tots. The two giggled and ran to the back door with Shado pretending to be a tickle monster and that if they didn’t get to the backyard fast enough he would tickle them both. This caused the two little twins to giggle and run even faster to the doo and out to the backyard. Little did he know Bryson, Adam and Blue were all recording this as he chased them across the field and helped them catch the glowing little bugs. Soon the little tikes made him tip and fall to the ground by one of them acting like a step and the other pushing him backwards over the other one. The two scrambled to pile on him to hold him to the ground. Aunt Blue took the opportunity and rand over to them and started to tickle Shado mercilessly. 

“Aunt Blue! Okay, alright I give up! I give up!” he laughed and she stopped torturing him with the tickles. 

Bryson was holding up his phone and trying to suppress a laugh but failing miserably and ended up giggling at the sight. Since it was getting dark Bryson ended up having to stay the night. Aunt Blue and the twins left and went home and Ronan showed up after the tickle torture Aunt Blue gave Shado. Bryson’s Dad said that it would be good for him to stay the night since barely ever gets to go outside because he’s always inside playing video games. Bryson’s dad came over with a few things that Bryson would need for the night. 

“Hey if it’s alright with you guys could he stay tomorrow night too? The wife and I are going to go visit her parents for a few days” Bryson’s dad explained. 

“Sure, he can stay here while you go visit them besides, growing boys need to stick together sometimes. We’ll take care of Bryson, I promise” Adam assured him. Shado could see Bryson’s father visibly relax and gave them a warm smile. Shado couldn’t believe it! His crush was going to be staying the entire weekend at his house! Shado led Bryson to his room where he pulled out an extra mattress from underneath his bed. 

“Woah, I didn’t know you like to paint!” Bryson exclaimed. 

“It’s just something I do in my free time” Shado said and sat down on his bed after putting some pillows and blankets on the extra mattress. 

“They’re really cool! I like this one” Bryson said and stood in front of one with two guys holding hands and walking across a moonlit beach while having their backs facing Bryson. Shado felt his ears turn red as he blushed. 

“Mn” Shado mumbled and looked away from the painting. He needed to do something with his hands. He picked up Midnight the bunny and held her for a few seconds until Bryson turned to see him holding an adorable bunny. 

“You have a bunny too? Are there anymore surprises I should know about?” Bryson asked with  a hint of suspicion in his voice.

“Correction I have three bunnies, and maybe you’ll find out in time.” Shado told him while pointing to the crate on the floor by his desk. Bryson went over and picked up the two bunnies that were in the crate. 

“What are their names?” Bryson asked while holding the two bunnies.

“That one is Angel” Shado said pointing to the one with yellow ears.

“That one is Spike” He pointed to the spotted one

“And this one is Midnight” He told him holding the bunny. 

“Cool, why’d you name this one Spike?” Bryson questioned. 

“I didn’t, Papa did. I found them a few days after I came to live with my dad when I was twelve” said Shado. 

“Oh, so are you… adopted?” Bryson wondered aloud.

“No, Adam is my biological dad. Sydney found out she was pregnant with me after dad broke up with her. They were sixteen at the time. Dad met Papa when he was seventeen.” Shado informed him. 

“Why do you call your mom Sydney?” Bryson questioned. He was about to tell him but someone was pounding on the front door downstairs. Shado went down to investigate with Bryson hot on his heels. He could hear his dad say his mother’s name. Shado tensed up and peered around the corner. Sydney was standing on the front porch with a smug look on her face.

“I’ve come here to visit Skunk, nothing more” Sydney growled. 

“His name isn’t Skunk anymore Sydney, it’s Shado” Adam said seriously. 

“I’ll call him what I named him when he was born now where is my son?” she barked.

“I’m right here, but I don’t want to see you” Shado said and stepped around the corner. 

“I am your mother boy! You will let me visit you if I Damn well want too!” Sydney screeched and stomped into the house. She raised a hand and it came down but Shado blocked it.

“You can’t hit me anymore Sydney, I actually have some rights and if you even lay a hand on me with me not wanting you to, then you could go to jail and i’m sure you don’t want that. So I’m telling you again nicely, I don’t want you to visit. Now please leave” Shado said trying to sound confident. 

“No, I came here because I wanted to see you Skunk. You’re going to allow me to visit you whenever I want, or else!” she shouted.

“Or else what? Are you going to sic that abusive husband on me and make him drag me out of here? You can’t do anything to me ever again! You’re the one who let him punch me whenever he felt like it, you’re the one who always stood by and let him use me as a punching bag, you’re  the one who made those first twelve years of my life hell! You never cared about me so why should I let you come back into my life after you repeatedly told me that I wasn’t good enough, that I wasn’t worth anything?” Shado informed her calmly with a bit of rage sneaking in every other second. 

“Because I’m the one who actually stayed around long enough for you to be born, to watch you grow up” Sydney snarled.

“Dad didn’t know about me until three years ago! You kept me out of his life for twelve years. He told me you never even told him that he had a son! He’s showed me more love than you ever gave me. He showed me how to actually feel happy and safe, he even gave me birthdays and holidays I didn’t even know existed until I met him!” Shado shouted quietly through clenched teeth. “Dad and Papa taught me how to be strong and independent, they taught me how to make friends, they taught me how to defend myself from people like you!”  quietly accused then calmly turned his back to her and walked up the stairs. 

“Skunk get down here right now and apologize to me! Skunk!” Sydney shrieked. 

Shado ignored her and kept walking. He heard the front door slam shut. He let out a sigh of relief and fell face first into his pillow on his bed. Bryson was watching from the doorway with wide eyes. 

“Um… if you want me to leave I can leave” he said 

“No, it’s fine. Just some family drama, sorry you had to hear that” Shado apologized with a soft smile. Bryson visibly relaxed a little and sat down on the extra mattress on the floor.

“Why’d she call you Skunk?” he asked out of curiosity. Shado pulled open his bedside table drawer and handed him a picture of a few days after he met his Dad and Ronan. Bryson’s eyes widened for a minute. 

“You’re  _ the _ Skunk everyone was talking about?” Bryson exclaimed. 

“Yeah, I mean I guess so. I never really talked to most people, I didn’t have many friends back  then but now I have Darla, she’s my best friend. She’s actually the only friend who stayed around me since I was twelve. Three years ago i didn’t really have any friends, I guess I had some but not the kind who’d hangout with me. The friends I had were kind of nice... until I found out they were talking about me behind my back. Darla was the one who told me what everyone said, she actually informed me on what everyone was saying about me behind my back. She even told me what I didn’t want to hear. The point is that I could always count on her to tell me if anyone was talking about me behind my back and she always told me the truth"  Shado explained. Bryson nodded as if he understood. Adam peered into the room a minute later and smiled kindly at them. 

“Hey, sorry for that outburst back there. Are you okay Shado? I wasn’t going to let her in, I’m sorry for her yelling at you” Adam said genuinely with concern. 

“It’s okay Dad, it wasn’t your fault. She needed to know that she can’t always get what she wants, like Grandma said.” Shado informed him with a smile. Adam chuckled. 

“Yeah, I suppose so. Anyway Ronan says that dinner will be ready in five, were having homemade pizza. Are you allergic to anything Bryson?” Adam asked kindly. 

“No” he answered with a smile and shook his head. 

“Oh good, well I hope you like the pizza Ronan makes. It’s got a lot of cheese and pepperoni!” Adam cheered and walked out the door to go downstairs. Shado and Bryson laughed at that. They went downstairs a few minutes later and saw the huge pizza on the counter. It was so big it could’ve covered the entire table! Bryson Gaped at it.

“Papa, you put in too much flour again.” Shado giggled and shook his head. 

“Hey it’s not my fault! The instructions said eight cups of flour!” Ronan whined. Shado looked at the instructions. They said eight  _ half  _ cups of flour.

“Papa this says eight  _ half  _ cups of flour, meaning you only put eight half full cups into the batch.” Shado accused with a smirk. 

“What? Let me see that” Ronan took the instructions and scanned them. After a minute he hung his head in defeat. 

“I hate it when you and your dad’s smarts out shine my baking skills” he said exasperatedly. Adam and Shado smirked at him and both said together, “We’re smarter than you! Deal with it!”. Then they winked at him and gave him a thumbs up. 

“Alright, alright, let’s just eat this thing. We could invite your Aunt and uncles and Grandma to come over and help us eat it since it does seem… family sized?” Ronan said with an eyebrow raised and a smile. Noah appeared next to Shado, Bryson didn’t notice. 

“Ooh! Can I have pizza too!” Noah cheered and startled Bryson. 

“W-when did he get here?” Bryson stammered. 

“Noah likes to pop in at the most unexpected times” Adam told him.

“And anyway Noah how would you eat? You’re dead” Ronan pointed out. 

“I can still smell it” Noah pouted. 

“Hey Noah, can you go tell Grandma, Aunt Blue, Uncle Gansey and Uncle Henry to come over and help us eat this giant monster sized pizza?” Shado asked with a smile. 

“You can count on me! I’ll be right back!” Noah said happily and faded away. Bryson just gaped at them. 

“Y-you live with a ghost!?” Bryson exclaimed excitedly. 

“Yeah, but it gets annoying when he just pops in out of nowhere” Shado exasperated. 

“Cool! I’ve always wanted to meet one! I didn’t expect to this early!” Bryson said delightfully. 

“What do you mean this early?” Ronan asked. 

“I’ve been studying the supernatural events that have occured in West Virginia! I’ve dreamed of exploring the unknown, finding paranormal things that have been marked as classified by the government!” Bryson explained happily. 

“Hmmm… are you thinking what I’m thinking Ronan?” Adam asked with a smile.

“I sure am. I’m thinking that maybe we should go visit Cabeswater tomorrow” Ronan said with a grin. 

“Really! You’re finally going to take me to Cabeswater?”Shado asked joyously. 

“Yeah, but we’re going to need to pick up Darla first. You know she’ll want to see it too” Adam said with a smile. 

“What’s Cabeswater?” Bryson asked curiously while furrowing his brow. 

“You’ll see tomorrow but you have to promise us one thing, don’t tell anyone” Shado requested seriously.

“I promise” he said seriously. There was a knock on the front door. 

“I’ll get it!” Shado said and opened the door to see Aunt Blue, Uncle Gansey, Uncle Henry, and Grandma Ava standing on the porch while smiling.

“I heard there was pizza?” Uncle Henry claimed with a smile. 

“Henry mind your manners” Grandma Ava demanded with a smile. Shado let them in and they all talked for awhile and ate pizza.

“Shado, I brought you something I thought you’d know what to do with” Uncle Henry said and held up a long block of wood. Shado took it and smiled at him. 

“Thanks Uncle Henry, I’m sure I can find something to do with it” Shado said and gave him a hug. Bryson looked really confused and stared at the block. Shado walked over and opened the door to the basement then went down the steps. He could hear Bryson following him. Shado didn’t mind him following and he did ask Shado if he had any other surprises he should know about. Shado turned on the light to the basement and put his new block with his wooden carvings. He turned and saw Bryson gaping at them. 

Shado usually carved trees and animals into wood blocks. Sometimes he even carved out scenes of what he saw to keep it as a memory, other times he just carved out what he saw in his imagination. His carvings and sculptures were just for fun though. The only sculptures Shado took seriously were the ones of Bryson, but those were in the basement closet covered in tarps. He made sure that every detail was correct from his hair to the freckles on his face to the color and size of his eyes. There was even a small sculpture of Bryson in ancient Greek armor charging into battle. Shado knew he was obsessed about Bryson but Shado wasn’t going to let him know about his crush on Bryson. 

“Did you carve all of these?” Bryson asked picking up a sculpted bird. Shado felt his ears heat up. Bryson Connors was holding one of  _ his  _ sculptures! 

“Y-yeah, but their not very good. Most of them were just for fun” Shado said and quickly made a dash for the exit. 

“Hey, do you think you could… ya know, make a sculpture of me?” Bryson said trailing after him. Shado stopped on the fourth step in surprise. Bryson wanted him to make a sculpture of him! He actually wanted _ Shado  _ to make a sculpture of him! What irony, Shado’s got a closet full  of Bryson sculptures and Bryson himself wanted him to to sculpt him something that looked like him, how ironic is that? 

“Sure… I-I could do that” Shado stammered and walked up the rest of the steps to the kitchen. After an hour Aunt Blue, Uncle Gansey and Grandma Ava left to go home but Henry stayed behind and played video games with Ronan. Adam went to his room to be alone but Shado knew that was because he was going to scry. Shado and Bryson went up to Shado’s room and played truth or dare. It was Shado’s turn to ask truth or dare.

“Okay Bryson, Truth or Dare?” he asked.

“Um, Truth” Bryson answered.

“Is it true that you dated Mykala back in sixth grade?” Shado demanded. 

“Yeah, that was the worst week of my life!” Bryson told him and laid his head on the end of Shado’s bed. 

“Then why’d you do it?” Shado laughed.

“She wanted to go to the dance with me and when I told her no she screamed until I said yes” Bryson claimed. Shado tried to hold back a laugh but it ended up as a snicker.

“I wanted to go with someone else but she almost always gets her way” he told Shado and flopped back onto the extra mattress. 

“Anyway, Truth or Dare Shado?” he asked. 

“Dare, hit me with your best shot” Shado commanded with a smirk and crossed his arms. 

“Alright, I dare you to take a picture of you with Angel and post it on twitter!” Bryson said and continued, “without your shirt on.” Shado turned pale. He did not want to take his shirt off in front of his crush! Besides, his dad would probably ground him for it, even though he never even got into trouble. 

“Hey guys whatcha doin’?” Adam said as he popped his head into the room. 

“Truth or Dare, Bryson dared me to take a picture with Angel and post it on twitter with my shirt  off. I am not going to do that!” Shado said to him with his arms crossed.

“Yikes, well rules are rules Shado. You can’t back down from a dare” Adam said with a kind, sympathetic smile and ducked out of the room.

“You’re no help at all!” Shado whined. 

“You have to do the dare Shado! Like he said, rules are rules.” Bryson giggled. 

“Fine” Shado gritted out and got Angel. He set the bunny in his lap and peeled his shirt off and threw it onto his dresser. Bryson’s ears turned bright red as he stared at the shirtless teenager. Shado got out his phone and held Angel up to his chest and smiled for the camera. Once he snapped the photo he posted it on twitter. 

“There, happy now?” Shado teased with a smirk and put the phone down. 

Shado put Angel back in the crate and went over to put his shirt on. 

“Wait, you… you look good… without your shirt on I mean.” Bryson said while rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. ‘Did… did Bryson just flirt with me? Does Bryson... like me? No way, that’s not possible! Bryson is really popular, why would he like me?’ Shado thought. Shado put the shirt back down. 

“Really?” Shado asked him and sat criss cross on his bed. 

“Y-yeah” Bryson stammered. 

“Mn” Shado made a sound of approval, but he didn’t know what he was approving. 

“Well we should probably go to sleep, we can play video games tomorrow if you want” Shado said then laid down and pulled his blankets over himself. 

“Okay, cool” Bryson said and laid down on the extra mattress then pulled the extra blankets over himself as he put his head on the pillow. 

Shado turned the light off and drifted off into peaceful sleep. 


	9. late night writing and riding

_ Three days later _

 

Shado woke up and it was dark outside He looked at the clock, 12:05 in the morning, figures. He couldn’t go back to sleep. Shado looked over and saw the outline shape of Bryson’s body in the moonlight. He thought about caressing Bryson’s face but that would be too weird and Bryson might wake up. He stared at his crushes sleeping figure, it was peaceful and almost romantic at how he looked as his skin bathed in the moonlight. Shado got up and tiptoed out of the room, being sure not to wake the sleeping boy. He went downstairs and put on his shoes and jacket then went to the horse stables. He walked up to a shiny black horse named Stormy. Shado strapped a saddle on her after he put a blanket on first, then he put the reins on her and climbed onto the horse. Shado walked Stormy out onto the pasture and started to ride freely. He felt the wind in his hair as they went faster and faster. 

They stopped after a while and he let Stormy get a drink from the crystal clear river. He got an apple out of the saddle bag and gave it to her to eat. Shado laid down in the grass and stared up at the star filled night sky. He took out his journal and a pencil and started to write after he unlocked the journal. Shado stopped writing after a while and closed the book then locked it. Shado looked up at the night sky. He looked at all the different constellations. His phone buzzed. 

**From: Bryson**

_ Where are you? You weren’t in bed when I woke up. _

Shado froze and read the text over and over again. When did he get Bryson’s phone number?

He texted back.

 

**Shado:** _ how’d u get my number? _

**Bryson:** _ I may have stole it off ur phone. Where r u? _

**Shado:** _ I went 4 a ride on my horse to clear my head. _

**Bryson:** _ oh, ok. Cool :)  _

**Shado:** _ my Dad already knows that I ride every night so it’s all gud. ;) _

**Bryson:** _ awesum, hey can we video chat? My fingers R gettin’ tired of typing. _

**Shado:** _ sure.  _

Shado’s phone buzzed and Bryson’s name flashed across the screen. He swiped the answer button. 

“Hey” Bryson said quietly. He looked like he was still laying down on the extra mattress. 

“Hey, what’s up” Shado said and sat up and leaned against a tree. 

“Just laying down” Bryson said sarcastically. 

“Yeah I can see that” Shado rolled his eyes with a smile. 

“Did you not put a shirt on when you went out side?” Bryson asked teasingly. Shado did not have a shirt on, he had a jacket on but not a shirt. He felt his ears go bright red.

“I completely forgot to when I put my jacket on” Shado said while blushing. Bryson was trying to stifle a laugh but came out as a giggle.

“Hey in my defense it was dark and I was half awake” Shado complained.

“Sorry, sorry, I know. I just think that you’re really… never mind, forget I said anything” Bryson quickly stammered. He looked like he was blushing. 

“No way, tell me!” Shado smirked. 

“Maybe later” Bryson kept blushing. 

“Fine, I’m coming back. Just let me get stormy” Shado informed him and got up from the ground. 

“What?” Bryson questioned.

“My horse” Shado said and turned the phone in the direction of the horse. 

“Oh, okay. See you in a few” Bryson said smiling. 

“Kay” Shado hung up then mounted onto Stormy and rode back into the direction of the barns. He felt free with the wind blowing in his hair. The could feel the wind surrounding him as if it were protecting him from something. 


End file.
